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Eric Blair
Union of Britain |party= Maximists |events= |status=Alive }}Eric Arthur Blair is the Propaganda Minister for the totalist Maximist faction of the Union of Britain, and firm supporter of Oswald Mosley, the leader of the Maximists. History Early life Eric Arthur Blair was born on 25 June 1903, in Motihari, Bihar, in British India. His father, Richard Walmesley Blair, worked in the Opium Department of the Indian Civil Service. His mother, Ida Mabel Blair (née Limouzin), grew up in Moulmein, Burma, where her French father was involved in speculative ventures. When Eric was a year old, his mother took him and his sister to England. In 1904, his mother settled with her children at Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. Eric was brought up in the company of his mother and sisters, and apart from a brief visit in mid-1907, he did not see his father, Richard Blair, until 1912. Before the Weltkrieg, the family moved to Shiplake, Oxfordshire where Eric became friendly with the Buddicom family, especially their daughter Jacintha. Jacintha and Eric read and wrote poetry, and dreamed of becoming famous writers. During this period, he also enjoyed shooting, fishing and birdwatching with Jacintha's brother and sister. School His mother wanted him to have a public school education, but his family could not afford the fees. Blair's Uncle, Charles Limouzin, recommended St Cyprian's School, Eastbourne, East Sussex. The headmaster undertook to help Blair to win a scholarship, and made a private financial arrangement that allowed Blair's parents to pay only half the normal fees. In September, 1911 Eric arrived at St Cyprian's. He boarded at the school for the next five years, returning home only for school holidays. He knew nothing of the reduced fees. While at St Cyprian's, Blair wrote two poems that were published in the Henley and South Oxfordshire Standard. He came second to Connolly in the Harrow History Prize, had his work praised by the school's external examiner, and earned scholarships to Wellington and Eton. Inclusion on the Eton scholarship roll did not guarantee a place, and none were immediately available for Blair. He chose to stay at St Cyprian's until December 1916, in case a place at Eton became available. In January, Blair took up the place at Wellington, where he spent the Spring term. In May 1917 a place became available as a King's Scholar at Eton. He remained at Eton until December 1921, when he left midway between his 18th and 19th birthday. Wellington was "beastly", Orwell told his childhood friend Jacintha Buddicom, but he said he was "interested and happy" at Eton. His principal tutor was A. S. F. Gow, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, who also gave him advice later in his career. Blair was briefly taught French by Aldous Huxley. Steven Runciman, who was at Eton with Blair, noted that he and his contemporaries appreciated Huxley's linguistic flair. Cyril Connolly followed Blair to Eton, but because they were in separate years, they did not associate with each other. Early political carrier In 1924, after being denied a policing position in Burma, Blair decided to enter politics as a Labour Member of Parliament. He was 21 years old and had not fully developed his own political views. He was driven by, and in Parliament spoke of, a passionate conviction to avoid any future war, and this seemingly motivated his career. He soon distinguished himself as an orator and political player, one marked by extreme self-confidence. In February 1925, after being dissatisfied with the Labour party's views towards strikes, Blair joined Mosley's Independent Labour Party, in part due to his hatred of the private and public school system and general dislike of capitalism. The British Revolution During the revolution, Blair was a key supporter of Mosley and his campaigns in Birmingham, and would prove to be one of his strongest allies. After the formation of the Union of Britain, Blair became an outspoken supporter of Mosley's new Maximist faction. Blair hoped to move up in the ranks of the faction, and was able to do this in 1928 when the then Propaganda Minister for the Maximists, Clive Lewis, stepped down. Blair became instrumental in organising the Maximist's propaganda campaigns, helping to turn the Maximists into a major party in Britain with his popular short novels which incorporated totalist themes. Blair has plans to write a longer, full length novel with the same totalist themes in the future. Personal Life *Blair is good friends with fellow writers C. S. Lewis, Enid Blyton and H. G. Wells, with the four having established a publishing house called the “Writer’s Union.” *The “Writer’s Union” is a publishing house created to praise the use of socialist values in literature and encouraged the reading of socialist literature over the Imperialist literature dominated by Winston Churchill, Arthur Conan Doyle, Erich Paul Remark and J. R. R. Tolkien. *Orwell's writing is often explicitly critical of religion, and Christianity in particular. He finds Christianity to be a "selfish church of the landed gentry" with its establishment "out of touch" with the majority of its communicants and altogether a pernicious influence on public life. Blair publicly advocates for the forcible destruction of Christianity and other religions, a belief shared by his close friend C. S. Lewis, and opposed by his colleague, H. G. Wells. See also *Union of Britain Category:People Category:Europeans Category:British-related topics Category:Authors